1. |
Aaaaaaaaarrrrrghhh
02:49
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Aaaaaaaaaaargh!
(A monster is looming over us!) I guess what I'm worried about is the hegemonic state of neo-liberalism. The fact we're offered a small state or a large state but neo-liberal capitalism is a given. A far right economic ideology has been common-sensified to the extent where members of the public don't even discuss it. The centre ground has shifted so far to the right that what should truly be considered centre-left social democratic projects are considered radical. Its worrying. What looks like an exchange of equivalence is actually systemic exploitation. The structural nature of relations demands that labour power is bought for less than its worth creating a surplus. Capital. The post-industrial pattern remains regimented, tied to its Fordist roots, but the veneer of productivity has worn thin. Work is meaningless, dull and false. Alienation and dehumanisation is total. Leisure is completely reified to the point where labour is self-justifying. Our entire lives are subject to the whims of capital. We're zealous about trivialities. We make tiny aggressions out of thin air and discuss them endlessly, but that's not enough. I worry that we're involved only in minor disruptions to hegemony. Maybe that's all capital allows us. There are people floating across the Med on rafts, the president of the USA is fucking insane, China is a totalitarian nightmare, and we're truly fucked. Capitalism strengthens itself. Cultural hegemony everywhere we look. Ideology is sinister and omnipresent.
Does the economy work for us, or do we work for the economy?
Maybe we need to find innovative modes of resistance. Affect concrete change rather than symbolic disruptions. The proletariat no longer exists, or if it does it exists in a radically different form. The next revolution won't be organised on the factory floor or in the offices of a 'revolutionary' political party. The revolution will be made on the dance-floor, on the streets, in the pubs. We need to insert cultural revolutionary ideas into our everyday lives. We won't be judged by our words, we'll be judged by our praxis. I guess I just feel like capitalism is so vast and sophisticated, its hard to know how to attack it. Where are the chinks in its armour? Its hard to know how to resist. I feel powerless, because I am, but not for long. Industrialisation creates ruthless exploitation, but also the tools needed to escape a world of scarcity. Its down to us to seize the initiative. Rise up and demand a fairer world, a more sustainable world, a world we can be proud of. Seize the initiative! (Hope is returning!)
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2. |
We're Not Evolved
02:49
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We're Not Evolved
Mass-communication
Rolling news
Mass-immigration
The world wide web
We're not evolved
Specialised production
Post-Fordism
Diversification
Bewitched by choice
We're not evolved
We
Are
Not
Evolved
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3. |
Occupation
03:13
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Occupation
I'm not dancing
I don't wanna run the risk
You smashed up my disco
This ain't San Francisco
I've got this fixation
Gonna end yr occupation
You built a wall
You bombed a school
You broke it up, broke the peace treaty
Where's yr solidarity
I've got this fixation
Gonna end yr occupation
Stifled my personality
Brought into question my nationality
Question everything
I've got this fixation
Gonna end yr occupation
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4. |
Nice Guy
03:12
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Nice Guy
You didn't hold a knife in a dark alley-way
You said all the right things, yr just a nice guy
Asked some questions, missed some cues
No yr not a rapist mate
No yr not a rapist
You tell yrself that
You felt entitled, its not yr fault
She was beautiful, she didn't say no exactly
If we frame it right, you were too nice
No yr not a rapist mate
No yr not a rapist
You tell yrself that
You were too nice
You piece of shit
No yr not a rapist mate
No yr not a rapist
You tell yrself that
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5. |
White Men
03:08
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White Men
In the White House there's a Nazi
On the streets there's Nazis
The alt-right are Nazis
Can't you see oh can't you see?
This is the hand
This is the hand
The hand that takes
White faces on teevee
Hold a mirror up to me
Privilege runs thru me
Its so easy so damn easy
This is the hand
This is the hand
The hand that takes
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6. |
Rinse and Repeat
02:41
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Rinse and Repeat
Like my product
I made it just for you
Everyone else too
Especially for you
Buy something!
Feel better?
Do it again!
I tailor products
My suit is tailored
My tailor buys buys buys my product
Buy something!
Feel better?
Do it again!
Endless cycle
Rinse and repeat
Buy something!
Feel better?
Do it again!
There's no escape!
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7. |
The City Is Dead
01:35
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The City is Dead
My mind no longer runs free
Trapped in the shadow of property
In our face but we don't see
Does anyone notice the human debris?
The city is dead and so are we
Can't afford to eat but I've got a degree
Sell my rebellion back to me
They plant their future with corporate seeds
Time to scrump their money tree
The city is dead and so are we
Billboards sneer at our poverty
Buy up their culture with dead eyed glee
Sold our future for a cup of coffee
Give us a go on yr fixie
The city is dead and so are we
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8. |
Glass House
04:50
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Glass House
I live in a glass house
I don't throw stones
I live in a nice house
I don't throw stones
There's a wire in my suit
They watch me at my job
I don't throw stones
They watch me at my home
I don't throw stones
There's a wire in my suit
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9. |
One Man Terror Dance
03:25
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One Man Terror Dance
When we bleed we bleed
We all bleed the same
Led by crooks and thieves
Under Tory reign
We create conditions
That breed resistance
Our wars are coming home
We threw the first stone
Our wars are coming home
When they take we lose
We all lose the same
Led by moneyed thieves
Under Tory reign
We create conditions
That breed resistance
Our wars are coming home
We threw the first stone
Our wars are coming home
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10. |
Herded
03:15
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Herded
Here in the dawn light
Everyone is pin-striped
I'm late or something
I'm hating something
Suave cunts
Rooting for their Oysters
I'm late or something
I'm hating something
Commute!
Were we born to be herded?
The fog, the cage
Panic attacks and rage
I'm late or something
I'm hating something
Boils of fury
Floating over commerce
I'm late or something
I'm hating something
Commute!
Were we born to be herded?
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11. |
Capital
04:04
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Capital
Debt slave
Capital
Capital, a world of images
The tail of the snake that eats itself
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12. |
Lambrini Anarchist
03:23
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Lambrini Anarchist
Economic working class
Cultural middle class
Lets not split hairs
That's not very fair
Here's their tool
Divide and rule
Champagne socialist
Prosecco communist
Lambrini anarchist
It's all the fucking same
Economic working class
Cultural middle class
The landscape shifts
We work long shifts
We don't want charity
We need solidarity
Champagne socialist
Prosecco communist
Lambrini anarchist
It's all the fucking same
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Austerity Brighton, UK
Austerity are a three-piece post-punk band from Brighton (UK)
Citing XTC, Scritti Politti and Wire
as influences, but frequently compared to Gang of Four, A Certain Ratio and Fugazi... Austerity's sound is a high-octane collision of swaggering bass & drum grooves, scratchy, chaotic guitar and snarling vocals, spitting bile on complex political ideas, but always remaining rooted in everyday life.
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